Worker housing structures are known by many names including bunk houses, workmen dormitories, living containers, man camp accommodation and industrial housing to name a few. Specifically, worker housing structures are accommodations for work persons temporarily housed at a site that has little or no accommodation facilities. The worker housing structures include sleeping and ablution facilities for the work persons. Generally, worker housing is in the form of complexes each complex configured to contain, for example, 60 or more workers on each level. Each complex is formed of several individual manufactured modules joined together. Each module is in turn formed of two worker housing units joined together. The units may be sized to be readily transportable over public roadways, railways or by boat.
The size and configuration of each module and complex is usually determined by the manufacturers of worker housing to provide the most economical solution to the parameters governing worker accommodation for a specific site or project. Consequently, the requirements determining the configuration of worker housing modules and their detailed construction are variables specific to each site at which they will be used, including for example, the natural environment, the terrain, the level of comfort desired for the workmen, the logistics required to get the units and supplies to the work site, the length of the project, the requirements of labor guilds (trade unions), the local Building Codes, and the financial constraints set by the entity responsible for the cost of construction of the total project. Generally, those responsible for, or having jurisdiction over, a specific project will define the site-specific criteria with respect to housing the workforce and the manufacturers of the workers living modules or others having access to previously manufactured worker housing, will offer equipment that meets the site-specific criteria.
Manufactured worker housing modules are sometimes re-used after their initial use to accommodate workers at other construction projects having housing parameters similar to those governing the original one. Usually, the housing modules have to be re-used in their original configuration or with minor modifications to meet minor differences in site conditions, governing bodies or criteria requested by the client responsible for their re-use as worker housing. Manufacturers have concentrated on providing re-use in the same use as the initial use. In particular, to enhance the re-use of manufactured worker housing, the manufacturers of workers living modules and those responsible for the specific projects, have sought to standardize many of the building requirements so that they do not vary significantly from one specific project to the next. Also, manufactures, have at times planned for re-use by considering generalized criteria other than those defined for the initial use to ensure that the worker housing modules may be re-used on projects in other geographical areas and that they will meet site specific criteria or be readily modified to meet special criteria required of the various agencies having jurisdiction in the area of re-use.
The manufacturers usually sell or lease the worker housing equipment for the duration of the specific project. They move the equipment to the specified site, make it operational at the site and provide operational support during the equipment's use. When the equipment is no longer needed, the manufacturers sometimes buy back the equipment and/or move it to a predetermined location, usually a marshaling yard, a significant distance from the project site. Other times, where it is difficult or costly to move the units or the units are so site-specific as to render them of little value for reuse, the worker housing modules are simply abandoned or discarded. After particularly large projects, many modules are discarded or abandoned due to oversupply. Many modules are also discarded or abandoned from projects in remote locations, but are generally of little value due to specific design for reuse only as a dormitory for housing numerous persons.